


Know Your Enemy

by totorokiicequeen



Category: Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:29:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27472012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totorokiicequeen/pseuds/totorokiicequeen
Summary: Alex never left Scorpia and is now Yassen's second. A kidnapping by MI6 to get Alex back on side makes Alex question if he truly knows his enemy.
Comments: 23
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1

Alex followed Yassen as he set himself up at a window of a small apartment directly across from the Palais de Justice. The owners were both out at work and the other residents were used to strangers coming to and from the apartment. It was a mild day in Brussels, perfect conditions for an assassination. The assassination was simple. Well, at least in Yassen terms. They were to assassinate a rogue CIA agent who had the unfortunate luck of being flagged on Scorpia’s radar. 

As Alex waited outside the Palais he couldn’t help but think how many assassinations he had now been a part of. Sure he never pulled the trigger but ultimately he was the bait. And this was no different. The CIA agent had a habit of coming to the Palais every Thursday as part of his exercise schedule. Vaguely Alex remembered Yassen telling him that routine could get a man killed. And here was the proof. Alex’s part in all of this was fairly simple. He was to act like the lost tourist and get the CIA agents attention for Yassen to make the shot. Simple straight-forward. 

The CIA agent arrived exactly on schedule. Alex put him at roughly mid-thirties, slim build but the muscles from years of training clearly evident. And so Alex set to work. He walked from the Palais straight in the direction of the man with a confused look on his face. 

‘Um…excuse me, you couldn’t help a young tourist out could you?’

‘Oh su-,’ 

He never finished the word as Yassen took the shot. Alex had already begun turning away from the man before the shot made its connection. He may be part of these assassinations but that didn’t mean he liked to see the resulting carnage. The rendezvous point was fifteen minutes away from the Palais. A light jog should get him there in plenty of time. As Alex made his way toward the rendezvous he was aware that something didn’t feel right, although he couldn’t quite place his finger on it. A quick glance revealed nothing and so he continued on.

Alex reached the rendezvous point earlier than anticipated and of course Yassen wasn’t there but he suspected he would be along shortly. After all, Alex had never seen anyone pack a sniper rifle away quicker than Yassen. Something glistened in the peripheral of Alex’s vision. He turned to see a gun aimed at his chest and behind that Ben Daniels stood firm. 

‘Alex, just come with us, we just want to talk,’ Ben assured him.

‘Uhuh…last time I checked MI6 weren’t too keen on talking, well unless it was to manipulate me, so I’ll have to pass on that,’ Alex mocked.

‘Please, don’t make me use this,’ Ben pleaded.

Alex was trying to weigh up his options. The likelihood that he could take on Ben in a fight was slim but he could potentially hold him off until Yassen arrived. The thought made Alex’s stomach turn. Ben was a good guy but Yassen had developed a fondness of Alex over the past year and he knew that anyone who threatened him also threatened Yassen. Alex knew all too well what happened when Yassen felt threatened. But at the same time he couldn’t just willingly go back to MI6. Scorpia may be a terrorist organisation but at least they never lied to or manipulated him. Well for the most part anyway. 

Alex was fairly certain Ben wouldn’t use the gun. He had been tough on him at Brecon Beacons but they had moved past that, before Alex joined Scorpia at least. He hoped Ben still saw the kid who had been dragged into a world in which he didn’t belong, about the only advantage Alex would get in this fight. He started to ready himself for a fight, getting into a fighting position but that’s when it all went wrong.  
Ben surged forward expecting the fight from Alex. Alex recalled Ben being an experienced fighter but he had also grown stronger in the last year with Scorpia. Though he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold him off for long. How long had he been at the rendezvous point now? Surely Yassen must be close if not about to stumble upon this fight.

‘If you’re wondering where Yassen is, he’s otherwise occupied,’ Ben managed to huff out.

Alex paused. ‘What do you-‘ Alex was thrown back, he hadn’t expected Ben to use the gun at all, least of all from close range. He looked down. No blood, so some form of drug then.

His vision began to blur and he couldn’t help but think how well this scenario mirrored his original involvement with MI6. No doubt this was the intention. Ben walked toward him and bent down.

‘I’m sorry Alex, truly I am.’

Alex looked up at Ben. The man did seem to be genuine in his apology but Alex expected no less. Ben wasn’t one to shoot children. The blackness started to come in quicker now and Alex knew his time was almost up. His head rolled to the side as he gave in to the drug. Just before he lost consciousness he could’ve sworn he saw Yassen running towards him. Maybe hallucinations were part of the drug. With that final thought Alex’s eyes closed and he lay still, only for the rise and fall in his chest he could easily have been mistaken for dead.


	2. Chapter 2

Yassen kept a watchful eye on Alex through the lens of his scope. As soon as Yassen saw Alex’s speech begin to slow he took the shot. Alex had already begun turning away and Yassen made a note to address this at the rendezvous point. Alex was Scorpia’s now and that meant they expected him to be ruthless, granted he had some room for remorse given his age but this would only last another few assignments, maybe. In the end Scorpia only want the best and so Yassen has to teach Alex to be ruthless, to essentially become him, or at the very least fake it. After all the board was under the assumption that it was in fact Alex making all these assassinations. And while Yassen has protected Alex from making any of the killings himself it is about time Alex learned to deal with the consequences of joining Scorpia. Plus, if the board saw Yassen come to deliver another report he feared they would terminate Alex on the spot with no questions asked. 

Yassen didn’t even wait for the body to hit the ground before he started packing away his rifle. He didn’t need to, he never misses. It took roughly thirty seconds for Yassen to put the rifle away, another thing that needed to be added to the ever growing list of Alex’s education. The rendezvous point was further away from Yassen and closest to Alex for the sole purpose of making sure Alex didn’t get into trouble. While Alex insisted he didn’t go looking for trouble, Yassen concluded that trouble found him wether he was looking for it or not. Still it wasn’t too far away so Yassen barely had to push himself to get there within five or so minutes of Alex’s arrival. He hoped Alex would be there in one piece as Yassen knows that intelligence agencies don’t like a turncoat, no matter the age. And when it was the likes of Alan Blunt at the helm, Yassen had no qualms that Blunt would take Alex out.

Yassen barely saw the bullet coming towards him, only for his natural instinct it surely would have embedded itself deep within his shoulder. He looked up at the buildings surrounding him looking for the glint of a gun, the sign of a sniper crouched somewhere. The sound of footsteps pulled Yassen away from his search. Three figures approached him, one on either side and one coming head on towards him. Judging from the way they walked, their build and the fact that they decided to attack as a team Yassen guessed they were soldiers not intelligence, so that left the question of who sent them. He had hoped to avoid a fight on this assignment but he sighed and took out his knives, ready for the attack.

‘We have orders to take you in alive, not unharmed, just alive. God only knows why they would want you alive but I don’t ask questions’, the man in front of Yassen spoke with a clear British accent. 

‘Is that so,’ Yassen coldly replied.

Yassen advanced quickly. There was no point in stalling and he wasn’t one for conversation. He figured the best strategy would be to stay in the middle of the three men as much as possible. He guessed the sniper wouldn’t shoot on the off chance they hit one of their teammates. He would make quick work of this.  
One slash to the throat for the soldier on the left sent the other two into defence mode. Yassen just had to wait for the right opening and he could finish them both. That opening came moments later when the soldier on the right dropped out of position leaving what Yassen presumed was the leader exposed.

‘Wolf!’

Yassen heard the name but it was too late. The knife cleanly lodged itself into the mans jugular. There was something about that name, he knew it. Yassen thought back to when he could have heard this name and that’s when it hit him. This was K-Unit, the team Alex had spent ten days with in Brecon Beacons. Whatever Alex’s attachment to the team was mattered nothing to Yassen. He had no attachments and showed no mercy, something Alex would have to learn. Yassen was ready to finish this annoyance but first he had a question that needed to be answered.

‘Who sent you here?’ Yassen demanded of the last man standing on the ground.

If the soldier thought about not answering the question it wasn’t apparent as he replied almost instantly.

‘MI6’

And with that Yassen buried the knife in his hand into the mans chest. He suspected he only received an answer because the SAS man expected mercy. Yassen didn’t know the meaning of the word.   
A shot that landed slightly right of Yassen reminded him of the sniper. With that miscalculation in the shot, Yassen could use that to find out where the sniper was hidden. It didn’t take him long to see the glint of the rifle and it took even less time for him to take out his own gun and fire off a shot. The shot hit the middle of the snipers forehead and he slumped forward over the rifle.   
Yassen needed to move swiftly. If MI6 had sent a team after him then surely they had sent someone after Alex. Yassen had no doubts that Alex could handle himself but it depended on who the person in front of him was. Alex still held on to too many morals and attachments for Yassen’s liking and he was determined to change this.

As Yassen rounded the corner of the rendezvous point he saw a figure hovering over Alex. Alex himself looked as if he was dead. Only for Yassen eyed him with such scrutiny did he notice that he was breathing. One simple shot to the back of the head and Yassen could have Alex out of there. But, something stopped him. Maybe this was the perfect lesson for Alex. Attachments will get you killed and a kidnapping may just wake Alex up to this.

Yassen watched from the corner as the figure lifted Alex up and over his shoulder. He could still make the shot and take Alex with him but this was a lesson Alex needed to learn. And with that Yassen left.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long to do, I was not having a good few weeks but I'm back now and hope you guys enjoy the next little part! I'm hoping to be at least a little more consistent with updates but I can't promise right now but again hope you all enjoy this chapter!

The darkness lifted as the room slowly began to spin back into focus. Alex looked around the room as he tried to subdue the sudden nauseousness that came with quick movement. The room was plain. The chrome table before him, two chairs the other side and one door was all that was visible at eye level. Alex looked up and noticed the two small black bubbles on the ceiling. So, he was being recorded. He wasn’t overly surprised it was MI6 after all, the list of people they didn’t keep an eye on was probably miniscule. As the feeling in the rest of his body returned to normal he became aware of the rope binding his hands together at the back of his chair. He was just about to make a start on undoing the rope when the door opened.

‘Ah Alex,’

Alex froze. He didn’t even need to turn and face the door to know who was speaking. He would never forget that voice until the day he died.

‘Blunt, doing an interrogation? Thought you usually let someone else do the dirty work? Aren’t I a lucky boy.’

Alex didn’t have to try too hard for the resentment to shine through and Blunt picked up on it too. A quick shift of the lips. Alex was no longer trying to contain his hatred for the man. What was the point? They both knew where they stood in terms of opinions of each other.  
Alex finally turned his head to look at the man who had changed his entire life. He couldn’t help but think he should be at home, either in school or hanging out with Tom and not in an MI6 interrogation room. 

As Blunt moved to one of the chairs a woman entered the room. Mrs. Jones. She hadn’t changed in the slightest to Alex but then again neither had Blunt. Both still as ruthless as ever though Alex did note a look of sympathy in Mrs. Jones eyes as she sat down beside her superior. It was strange for Blunt to be doing all the talking when Jones was also in the room and Alex couldn’t shake the feeling that it was some form of tactic. He had hoped that Mrs. Jones’ morals in using a child spy would have come through and sent her running for the hills but he guessed her job took a front seat to her morals. 

‘Why?’

One word. The question caught Alex off guard.

‘You’re going to have to be more specific,’ Alex said sarcastically.

‘I’ll rephrase then. Why Yassen Gregorovich?’

‘I think we both know the answer to that,’ Alex went with the safe answer.

A quick nod from Blunt told Alex that the matter wouldn’t be pushed further. 

‘I find it admirable that you put your trust in someone who wouldn’t even save you from being taken here,’ Blunt replied venomously. 

Alex tried for a blank expression but he knew by Blunt’s face that he hadn’t managed it. The comment sliced through him like a knife. Granted Alex knew Yassen wasn’t capable of affection in the normal sense but he thought Yassen at least vaguely had some form of fondness for him. He wouldn’t just leave him, would he?

‘What do you mean?’

‘Oh, well naturally we had the area under surveillance and the cameras sure did pick up an interesting bit of movement. Namely one Yassen Gregorovich electing to ignore coming to your aid,’ Blunt stated rather matter of factly.

Alex was numb. He couldn’t quite believe what he’d heard. Even if Yassen had no shred of fondness for Alex, he was still a valuable asset for Scorpia and that alone would have warranted for an extraction. 

‘We have the tapes if you’d like to see?’ Blunt said with a half smile. 

It was all there. In grainy black and white. As much as Alex wanted to deny it there was no mistaking it. Yassen clearly saw Ben over Alex, raised the gun and then promptly lowered it again. Something about the tape didn’t sit right with Alex but he couldn’t quite work out what it was yet. He needed time.

‘How can I trust that this tape isn’t doctored? Last time I checked you weren’t exactly the most trustworthy of people,’ Alex replied.

‘How can we trust anything in our line of work Alex,’ Mrs. Jones said softly.

Alex glanced at her. She seemed to be showing her emotions more than she had when he was being forced to work for MI6. It seemed as if she was genuinely sorry for getting Alex involved in this line of work. It was all there in her eyes, the slight twinkle and pleading. Alex still didn’t fully trust Mrs. Jones but she was higher on the list than Blunt. He nodded his head in the hopes that she’d understand that he accepted her silent apology. 

‘Yes, yes well you can either believes us or not, that particular part isn’t any of my concern,’ Blunt said with the slightest hint of irritation. ‘What really concerns me is what Gregorovich and Scorpia are up to? Would you be so kind as to shed some light on that for us.’

Alex turned his head to look at Blunt. Was he for real? Give intel to MI6 about Scorpia operations? Alex didn’t expect to live a long life but he had hoped to finish out the rest of this year at the very least.

‘Well, in case you haven’t noticed Blunt I’m only a child, a well trained child, no thanks to you but still a child. Scorpia doesn’t tend to trust children with the sole fate of their operations. You might want to take a leaf out of their book on that one,’ Alex countered with all the force he could. 

‘That’s a shame. I thought maybe you’d help us and in return you could see Jack and Tom again. But, I guess you don’t care all that much about them.’

Alex opened his mouth to reply and promptly closed it. He realised what was off about the tapes. Yassen never hesitates. If he wanted Ben dead then he would be dead. A split second decision to let Alex be taken. But what for? Oh. Of course. Yassen was always harping on about attachments. Now Alex understood. Alex’s attachment to Ben had brought him here and Blunt still thought he could manipulate him by using the people he held dear to him. While Alex is glad that Yassen didn’t kill Ben, he wished Yassen would’ve just told him the lesson again instead of making him get dragged here.

‘You know, I got some training at Malagosto, that thing that you guys never wanted to give me, anyways your manipulation won’t work on me anymore Blunt, change the record,’ Alex spat back. 

Alex was done listening to Blunt, it was time to go. The rope binding his hands wasn’t tied all that tightly, whether on purpose or by incompetence he couldn’t say. He would make light work of getting out of them. Yassen had thoroughly trained him to get out of most if not all bindings in any number of situations. He was just about to break free when he heard it. The slight fizz sound coming from the door.

The door was blown wide open and through the disappearing white smoke Alex saw Yassen. He just had enough time to cover his eyes as Yassen threw a stun grenade into the room. The light was utterly bright even through Alex’s arms which shielded his eyes. Blunt and Mrs. Jones had no time to react and the two were rubbing their eyes to try and get any sort of vision back in them.

‘Come along, Alex’, Yassen said calmly.

Alex didn’t need telling twice. As he left he couldn’t help but feel somewhat sorry for Mrs. Jones. He really felt as if she had a change of heart and that she did want to protect Alex in the long run.  


* * *

Smithers walked into the interrogation room with it’s door clinging on by a single hinge.

‘Well, will it work?’ Blunt snapped, still trying to get his sight back to normal.

‘It should work yes but I must voice my objections to it,’ Smithers replied sheepishly.

‘Do you think he truly trusts Yassen? He didn’t show any signs of betraying him and immediately suggested our tapes were false when confronted with them,’ Mrs. Jones questioned.

‘He’d be a fool to trust Yassen Gregorovich and Alex Rider is no fool,’ Blunt said simply. 

If Alex had thought MI6 had been using him before it was nothing compared to what was ahead and he didn’t even know it was coming.


	4. Chapter 4

It took Yassen an hour from touching down in Heathrow to arrive in front of the Royal and General Bank, after a short stop at a safe house to discard his disguise and collect the weapons he would undoubtedly need. Yassen had no doubt that every camera within an hundred mile radius had picked up his face by now so a surprise infiltration was not an option. No matter, Yassen had infiltrated much tougher buildings than this.

While MI6 knew Yassen was there, he still hoped to keep things quiet. After all explosions and causing a scene were more Alex’s area of expertise. Yassen preferred to slip in and out of places unnoticed, it led to less errors. 

Yassen waited for a large group to approach the building and placed himself within the group. Once inside it took him all of a minute to find the service stairs which would lead him to the lower levels. He already found the lack of security and agents running towards him suspicious but decided to count his blessings, the least amount of bodies he left in his wake the better. Yassen was beginning to think he would have to search every interrogation room when an agent suddenly appeared in the corridor. Lucky for Yassen, unlucky for the agent.

‘I will only ask this once, which room is Alex in?’

‘Ahm…,’ the agent stammered.

Wrong answer. Yassen closed the gap between himself and the agent in seconds. The confusion on the agents face quickly turned to agony as Yassen grabbed the agents wrist and twisted it up and back, the crunch of bone barely audible over the agents scream.

‘He’s down the hall, room 5, third door on the left,’ the agent managed to get out inbetween deep breaths and muffled sobs.

‘Thank you.’

Yassen quickly walked to room 5. He couldn’t hear anything happening inside but that was to be expected. The door would naturally be thick steel and soundproofed. He pulled out the small bit of explosive he had brought with him. Yassen would’ve preferred to have a little extra explosive on the off chance they needed to arrange an alternate exit strategy but how and ever. He began working the explosive around the hinges of the door. There wasn’t enough to completely blow the door off so he would target the weaker areas of the door. Yassen hoped Alex would hear the slight fizz sound of the explosive before he threw in the stun grenade. While Alex had come on leaps and bounds with Scorpia, Yassen still thought getting out of MI6 HQ would be a challenge and he had no desire to add a disoriented and blinded Alex to the mix.

The door was blown wide open, much better than Yassen had anticipated. He needed to be quick throwing in the stun grenade but wanted to be sure that Alex was at least slightly prepared. Yassen searched for those brown eyes that were so much like his fathers. In an instant their eyes met and Yassen threw the stun grenade. Alex barely covered his eyes in time, Yassen would have to work on his reaction times but at least Alex wasn’t blinded.

‘Come along, Alex,’ Yassen said calmly. 

Though whoever was interrogating Alex probably already knew who had come for him, there was no harm in reminding them that Scorpia would send their best to retrieve Alex. A subtle hint to MI6 of Alex’s value.  
Alex was by Yassens side in seconds, in fact he’s never seen the boy move as quick. This was good though. It meant Alex had no broken bones or any other more pressing injuries that may prevent a successful escape. 

‘I expect this to be a difficult escape. You must listen and obey everything I say and do not argue,’ Yassen stated.

A quick nod was all that there was time for as they promptly moved down the corridor and toward the service stairs. Yassen was surprised that no alarm had sounded yet but that could’ve been due to the fact that Alex’s captors were unable to see to sound that alarm. Still the lack of agents around the place unnerved him. It could mean one of two things; that they were about to face a myriad of agents in the stairwell and in the façade of the bank or that MI6 had every intention of letting Alex go easily which was highly suspicious. Yassen hoped it would be the first option but the lack of agents in the stairwell confirmed it was the second. He sighed. Yassen would take no pleasure in what was about to occur but even he was bound to the demands of Scorpia.

* * *

Yassen opened the safe house door and let Alex through first. The door closed noisily behind Yassen.

‘Yassen, I-,’ Alex began but had no time to finish his apology. 

It took Yassen all of two seconds to cross to wear Alex was, grab the boys arm and twist it behind him while placing a hand on Alex’s face and pinning him to the wall.

‘I trust you learnt your lesson. However, I still have to obey the demands of Scorpia. If you tell the truth from the start then the pain will be minimal.’

Yassen felt a shiver run through Alex. If Alex had intended to lie, Yassen hoped the threat of pain would make him think twice. Though Yassen realised it was Alex he was dealing with and a smartass comment was bound to slip out at some stage. Yassen roughly moved Alex through the hall and threw him into the awaiting chair in the middle of the living room. 

‘First question: was it Ben Daniels who interrogated you?’

‘No, it was Blunt. He must’ve thought-,’ Alex faltered. ‘So what they showed me was true, you did leave me to be taken. I thought-,’

‘You thought what?’ Yassen shouted across Alex. ‘Thought I had a little fondness for you? No. My job is to see that you become Scorpia’s next top operative. Nothing more and nothing less,’ Yassen said coolly.

‘But,’ Alex stammered.

‘But, nothing. I will not tolerate another off topic response.’

Alex scoffed. ‘You think threatening me with a bit of pain will make me fall in-line?’

Yassen stared coldly at Alex. ‘Who said the pain would be inflicted on you?’

Alex looked taken aback. Good. The threat of others getting hurt because of Alex would make sure Alex complied. On the off-chance he didn’t, Yassen had two operatives with Tom and Jack in their sights. One word and they both could be in an amount of pain that neither would have experienced before nor will they experience again. And Alex would get to listen to their screams via the comms and think of how this all could have been avoided if he would have just behaved. 

‘Now if you could start at the beginning of the kidnapping. Spare no details and I shall see to it that Tom and Jack do not get hurt.’

The name drop had the desired effect and Alex began telling his side of the events. Yassen didn’t see a time where Alex would ever put his life above that of others but that wasn’t the most pressing issue at the moment. Right now, Yassen needed to figure out two things from Alex’s retelling.  
1\. Why MI6 would let Alex go and  
2\. Has Alex defected back to MI6?

It took roughly an hour for Alex to recount the events to a standard Yassen was happy with. And during that hour Yassen landed upon the reason MI6 let Alex go. It was the oldest trick in the book and yet MI6 must think Yassen wouldn’t take it into his own hands to remove the device from Alex. An error in judgment on their part.

‘You say you do not remember how long you were unconscious for?’ Yassen asked.

‘How many times do I have to say it, no I don’t remember how long.’ Alex moaned.

Yassen moved quick and Alex was taken off guard. He grabbed both of Alex’s arms and placed them forearm up. That’s when Yassen spotted it. The tiniest trace of a scar. He had to hand it to MI6, the injection site was nearly invisible but fortunately Yassen knew what he was looking for. In one swift movement Yassen brought out his knife and had cut a straight line down the middle of Alex’s forearm. He ignored Alex’s protests as he began to dig around in search of the tracker which he knew would be there. And after a minute of searching there it was inbetween Yassen’s fingers. Yassen dropped the device into a glass of water that was in the room.

‘Get cleaned up, we are leaving.’ Yassen ordered.

* * *

Back in Smithers office a faint beeping began from the computer. A wicked smile appeared on the face of Alan Blunt as he got confirmation from Smithers that the plan had worked. A short nod was all that was needed. Blunt finally felt as if he was one step ahead of Yassen. Yassen took out the tracker like Blunt knew he would and set off the real trackers or rather the tiny particles left behind in Alex’s bloodstream from the fake tracker. Now that they had an idea of where Yassen and Alex would be at every minute of the day it was time for Mrs. Jones to get to work. One way or another Blunt would get Alex back.


End file.
